Home » News » #India, #Japan negotiating #military #logistics pact in tightening of ties – Japanese ships would get access to fuel and servicing at major Indian #naval bases

Published On: Tue, Oct 23rd, 2018

#India, #Japan negotiating #military #logistics pact in tightening of ties – Japanese ships would get access to fuel and servicing at major Indian #naval bases

Japan hopes to clinch a military logistics pact with India that will allow access to each other’s bases, Tokyo’s envoy said on Monday, in a tightening of security ties seen as designed to balance China’s growing weight in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Japan this weekend for an annual summit with his counterpart Shinzo Abe, and the proposed Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement between the two militaries is on the agenda.

Under Modi and Abe, bilateral relations have rapidly expanded and the two countries conduct three-way naval exercises involving the United States in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

Japan’s ambassador to India, Kenji Hiramatsu, said it was only natural for the two militaries to have a logistics-sharing agreement because of the large number of manoeuvres they were carrying out each year. “We hope to start formal negotiations with regard to signing of the ACSA. It is high time we had mutual logistics support,” he said.